5 Photography Trends for 2021 that You Should Know About

5 Photography Trends for 2021 that You Should Know About

Keeping an eye on photography trends is extremely useful for photographers that want to better understand and improve their influence. It’s true, trends can not only indicate what type of photography is making waves but also the skills and ideas that photographers might need to stay ahead. With so much change over the past year, photography trends have also needed to evolve even faster in order to stay relevant to the way we live today. But what photography trends in 2021 should you know about?

 

Let’s take a look at some photography trends that seem to stand out…

 

5 Photography Trends for 2021 that You Should Know About

 

1. Using Photography to Create NFTs

Are you familiar with NFT’s? Photographers can use this rising trend to further monetize their work while embracing what will surely be the marketplace of the future. NFT refers to a digital token (non-fungible token) that is stored on a secure database. Each NFT is unique and a relatively new technology called blockchain allows people to buy and sell these digital pieces of art which makes them a digital asset. Just so you know, this market has exploded over the past year and an NFT recently sold for more than $69 million! Fancy making a few bob from your shots? This Forbes article should help you get started with this incredibly fast-moving photography trend!

Continue Reading: NFT’s Vs. Photography

Dane-Jackson-Green-River-Race

Dane Jackson at the Green River Race

 

2. Going Offline with Real People and Real Life Events

At the same time, people seem to be somewhat tired of exaggerated representations of what happens in real-life (Hello, Instagram). This is especially true as the pandemic wears on and people are craving more realism and authenticity in life. In terms of photography trends, this simply means that we might embrace humanity a bit more and focus on photography for events and hopefully even a concert or two this summer!

Vietnam-Street-Photography

Preparing for the days market in Hanoi, Vietnam

 

3. Placing Emphasis on Isolation and Social Distance

You don’t need reminding that social distancing is a pretty big deal at the moment and this photography trend is going strong since last year. But what does this look like exactly?
Aside from the visual of masks or being 6 feet apart, it’s necessary to create an emotional sense of isolation. Silhouettes are the best example of such, for this quickly portrays the separation that we see in today’s society. Either way, this photography trend is all about nurturing a powerful and impactful emotion that creates an instant connection.

New Zealand Lanscape

4. Using the Great Outdoors to Connect

With so much emphasis on space and staying apart, more and more people are turning to the great outdoors. In fact, people are turning to nature for relief just as much as safety which makes outdoor photography a great way to connect with people. This can relate to photography of outdoor activities such as hiking, camping or biking just as much as landscape photography itself.

Trade and lore coffee shop

5. Mastering the Art of Cinematic Photography

It’s a rather big compliment to have a piece of work described as “cinematic” or “Just like a movie”. Unfortunately for many photographers, they think that cinematic photography requires a great deal of skill and not worth the effort. However, some simple tweaks can help you make the most of this photography trend in 2021.

 

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What are NFTs – Photography vs Cinematography

What are NFTs – Photography vs Cinematography

What in the hell is an NFT anyway?

For starters NFT stands for “Non-fungible token”, okay cool… but what does that even mean? The best way to think of an NFT is to think of it as a unique proof of ownership over a piece of digital art or even a video clip. It’s a one-of-a-kind piece of code, that is then stored and protected on a shared public exchange. If you aren’t familiar with the blockchain, Bitcoin, or Ethereum. I would recommend starting with these articles first.

What is Bitcoin?

What is an NFT? The trendy blockchain technology explained

I’m going to admit that I’m still very new to NFTs, and even though I have been watching the crypto space for the last 5 years, I am only going to touch upon this vast subject as I am still learning along with everyone else. If any of the information in this post is extremely incorrect, please let me know at hello@danielconerd.com.

 

Photography vs Cinematography as it relates to NFTs

 

NFTs are unique digital assets and they can be compared to a sort of a cryptocurrency token similar to Bitcoin. But they differ significantly. Bitcoins can be swapped for other tokens, NFTs remain unique. They are a way of selling artwork over the Ethereum blockchain. The transactions retain the uniqueness and ownership of NFT.

The NFT buying process imitates the real world. Buyers purchase a unique, authentic digital copy just as they would for a physical art form. The purchased copy can further be resold in the future to earn a profit. People can use the blockchain technology to create unique contracts and decentralize the fund flow. It is like creating IP-based crypto contracts that help monetize different digital arts efficiently.

 

Photography perspective

As a photographer, you are only selling a picture or digital files of your art. This is different from the conventional selling of rights or prints. Photographers see it as an opportunity to reach their patrons passionate about their digital art and are willing to pay for it.

Once you sell your art for an NFT, you also get the option to receive a resale percentage for any future resale of their art. It is like a permanent link to royalty for sales of your art. The striking feature of blockchain is its transparency and traceability for all transactions.

A photographer gets to choose the number of digital files (copies) they wish to release for their art.

Ever since the beginning of photography, photographers have faced art forgery but, NFT Blockchain makes digital forgeries extremely difficult. The information regarding the origin and ownership of the NFT can easily be attained via the blockchain.

NFT marketplaces like Rarible and Foundation are the equivalent of Shopify and Etsy. There are a ton of other ones to choose from as well, but those are the two that I find myself browsing through the most.

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Ivana Desančić (@ivanadesancic)

Local Asheville fine art photographer: Ivana Desancic has a few of her pieces for sale on Foundation

Cinematography perspective

It is certainly a boost for independent filmmakers who can directly monetize their digital assets without the need to go through conventional channels and harness contacts. While photography is limited to selling only the NFTs for their digital assets, cinematographers have a lot of stuff in the ‘related’ category like – film stills, scripts, posters, and other collectibles. Lebron James just sold a video for over $200K, along with a video clip that the artist named Beeple sold for $67,000, which was later re-sold for $6.6 million dollars! Spotify disrupted the music industry and brought about a fresh revenue stream for the records. Similarly, NFTs are expected to develop a new revenue stream for the film industry.

 

 

 

This is just a quick cinematograph that I created. I’ve dabbled with creating cinematographs in the past, but I never really pursued it. I might have to revisit this art form more!

The NFT craze is massive and right now everyone is trying to speculate on where it’s headed and if it will be something that will stick around. As of right now, I currently don’t have any NFTs for sale. I am however very curious to see what the future holds for digital creators.

Do you have an idea for a project? Contact me and let’s create something today!

 

I’m going to admit that I’m still very new to NFTs, and even though I have been watching the crypto space for the last 5 years, I only just touched upon this vast subject as I am still learning along with everyone else. If any of the information in this post is extremely incorrect, please let me know at hello@danielconerd.com.

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